System and method for providing geographic information in private webpage

ABSTRACT

A geographic information providing system in a personal webpage is disclosed. The geographic information providing system can include a GPS information storing unit, receiving GPS coordinate information related to a location of a user and additional information from a mobile communication terminal and storing the received GPS coordinate information and additional information; a map data loading unit, loading map data having a location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information if a request to access the stored GPS coordinate information and additional information is received; and a temporary layer generating controlling unit, generating a temporary layer to mark the location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information on a loaded map in a form capable of being identified by the user and providing control information for displaying the location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/162,946, filed on Jul. 31, 2008, now issued to as U.S. Pat. No.8,155,885, which is the National Stage Entry of InternationalApplication No. PCT/KR2007/000417, filed on Jan. 24, 2007, and claimspriority from and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.10-2006-0009791, filed on Feb. 1, 2006, which are all herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present invention is related to a system and a method of providinggeographic information in a personal webpage, more specifically to asystem and method that can easily store location information related toa particular place and check the stored location information through apersonal webpage.

2. Discussion of the Background

The development of the GIS technology and the network communicationtechnology makes it possible to provide a service showing map data of aparticular region and directions to a particular place through Internetportal sites and geographic information sites.

Typically, the geographic information service through the Internet hasprovided map information related to the region selected by a user anddirections between a departing point and a destination.

This geographic information service was useful when the user searchedfor the location of a particular place and received directions to thesearched place. However, it has been difficult to use the geographicinformation service when the user stored the location of the place ortried to inform another user of the location.

The conventional geographic information service could provide universalgeographic information only. It has not been sufficient for theconventional geographic information service to individually providespecialized geographic information to the user. Although today's usersrequest a function capable of storing a not-registered region in the mapand another function capable of sharing the stored information withother users, the conventional geographic information service has notbeen able to meet these requests.

Also, the conventional geographic information service could allow theuser to mark a specific location on the map, but the pertinent markinghad to be done by hand, thereby becoming troublesome lacking accuracy.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the present invention, which is designed to solve theaforementioned problems, provides a system and method of providinggeographic information in a personal webpage that can allow a user tostore location information related to a place, which the user hasvisited.

The present invention can also provide a system and method of providinggeographic information in a personal webpage that can share locationinformation of a place, which a user is currently visiting, with notonly the user who stores the location information but also other users,by linking with a mobile communication terminal and storing in real-timethe location information in a form of a personal webpage posting.

The present invention can also provide a system and method of providinggeographic information in a personal webpage that can easily store notonly location information related to a place, which a user visited, butalso additional information such as photos, video and descriptionrelated to the pertinent location and search for the locationinformation along with the additional information.

Other problems that the present invention solves will become moreapparent through the following description.

To solve the above problems, an aspect of the present invention featuresa geographic information providing system in a personal webpage.

The geographic information providing system in a personal webpage inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention can have a GPSinformation storing unit, which receives GPS coordinate informationrelated to a location of a user and additional information from a mobilecommunication terminal and stores the received GPS coordinateinformation and additional information, a map data loading unit, whichloads map data including a location corresponding to the GPS coordinateinformation if a request to access the stored GPS coordinate informationand additional information is received, and a temporary layer generatingcontrolling unit, which generates a temporary layer to mark the locationcorresponding to the GPS coordinate information on a loaded map in aform capable of being identified by the user and provides controlinformation for displaying the location corresponding to the GPScoordinate information.

An application can be installed in the mobile communication terminalwhen the user makes a request or a predetermined event occurs. Theapplication is for calculating and transmitting, together withadditional information, GPS coordinate information corresponding to alocation of the user. The mobile communication terminal transmits theGPS coordinate information and the additional information via a mobilecommunication network or a wireless Internet.

The system can also have a map data storing unit, which stores map data.

In the system, a packet having GPS coordinate information and additionalinformation transmitted from the mobile communication terminal caninclude user identifying information, and the GPS information storingunit can base on the user identifying information to determine the userhaving transmitted GPS coordinate information and can store the receivedGPS coordinate information and additional information in a predeterminedbulletin board category of the pertinent user in a form of a posting.

The system can also include a coordinate converting unit, which convertsGPS coordinate information into coordinate information corresponding tomap data of the map data storing unit if a request to access GPScoordinate information and additional information is received. The mapdata loading unit can base on the converted coordinate information toload map data of the vicinity.

The coordinate information corresponding to map data of the map datastoring unit can be GIS coordinate information.

The system can also have a directions calculating unit, which calculatesand provides directions information corresponding to a plurality oflocations. If a plurality of postings storing GPS coordinate informationare selected, the map data loading unit can load from the map datastoring unit map data that can include locations corresponding to aplurality of GPS coordinate information, and the directions calculatingunit can calculate and provide directions information related to aplurality of locations marked on the loaded map data.

The personal webpage can include a blog webpage and a personal homepage.

The additional information can include at least one of descriptioninformation, image information and video information, inputted by theuser.

The geographic information providing system in a personal webpage inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention can have apersonal webpage server, which receives GPS coordinate information andadditional information from a mobile communication terminal and storesthe received GPS coordinate information and additional information in aform of a posting. The personal webpage server can load map data havinga location corresponding to the GPS coordinate information and providemap information displaying on the loaded map a location corresponding tothe GPS coordinate information in a form capable of being identified bya user, together with the additional information, if a request to accessGPS coordinate information stored in the posting form and additionalinformation is received.

An application can be installed in the mobile communication terminalaccording to a user's request. The application is for calculating andtransmitting, together with additional information, GPS coordinateinformation corresponding to a location of the user. The mobilecommunication terminal transmits the GPS coordinate information andadditional information via a mobile communication network or a wirelessInternet.

The personal webpage server can convert GPS coordinate information intocoordinate information corresponding to a map of an external mapdatabase and can base on the converted coordinate information to loadmap data of the vicinity if a request to access GPS coordinateinformation and additional information is received.

The personal webpage server can load from an external map database mapdata that can include locations corresponding to a plurality of GPScoordinate information and can calculate and provide directionsinformation related to a plurality of locations if a plurality ofpostings storing GPS coordinate information are selected.

Another aspect of the present invention features a geographicinformation providing method in a personal webpage.

The geographic information providing method in a personal webpage inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes (a)receiving from a mobile communication terminal and storing GPScoordinate information and additional information, (b) loading map dataincluding a position corresponding to the GPS coordinate information ifa request to access the received GPS coordinate information andadditional information is received, (c) generating a polygonal objectfor marking a location corresponding to GPS coordinate information onthe map data loaded in the step (b), and (d) providing controlinformation for marking the generated polygonal object through atemporary layer.

A packet having GPS coordinate information and additional informationtransmitted from the mobile communication terminal can include useridentifying information. The step (a) can base on the user identifyinginformation to determine the user having transmitted GPS coordinateinformation and can store the received GPS coordinate information andadditional information in a predetermined bulleting board category ofthe pertinent user in a form of a posting.

The step (b) can include converting GPS coordinate information intocoordinate information corresponding to the map data and loading mapdata of the vicinity in accordance with the converted coordinateinformation.

If a plurality of postings storing GPS coordinate information areselected, the method can also include loading map data that can includelocations corresponding to a plurality of GPS coordinate information andcalculating and providing directions information related to a pluralityof locations.

The additional information can include at least one of descriptioninformation, image information and video information, inputted by theuser.

The geographic information providing method in a personal webpage can beembodied in a program, and the present invention can provide a recordedmedium in which the program is recorded.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of a geographic information providingsystem in a personal webpage in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of a geographic information providingsystem in a personal webpage in accordance with another embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the overall process of providinggeographic information in a personal webpage in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a personalwebpage server in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing GPScoordinate information and additional information to a personal webpageserver in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing mapinformation corresponding to GPS coordinate information stored in a formof a personal webpage posting in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing mapinformation corresponding to a plurality of postings storing GPScoordinate information when selecting the plurality of postings inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparentthrough the below description with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

Since there can be a variety of permutations and embodiments of thepresent invention, certain embodiments will be illustrated and describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. This, however, is by nomeans to restrict the present invention to certain embodiments, andshall be construed as including all permutations, equivalents andsubstitutes covered by the spirit and scope of the present invention.Throughout the drawings, similar elements are given similar referencenumerals. Throughout the description of the present invention, whendescribing a certain technology is determined to evade the point of thepresent invention, the pertinent detailed description will be omitted.

Terms such as “first” and “second” can be used in describing variouselements, but the above elements shall not be restricted to the aboveterms. The above terms are used only to distinguish one element from theother. For instance, the first element can be named the second element,and vice versa, without departing the scope of claims of the presentinvention. The term “and/or” shall include the combination of aplurality of listed items or any of the plurality of listed items.

When one element is described as being “connected” or “accessed” toanother element, it shall be construed as being connected or accessed tothe other element directly but also as possibly having another elementin between. On the other hand, if one element is described as being“directly connected” or “directly accessed” to another element, it shallbe construed that there is no other element in between.

The terms used in the description are intended to describe certainembodiments only, and shall by no means restrict the present invention.Unless clearly used otherwise, expressions in the singular numberinclude a plural meaning. In the present description, an expression suchas “comprising” or “consisting of” is intended to designate acharacteristic, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a part orcombinations thereof, and shall not be construed to preclude anypresence or possibility of one or more other characteristics, numbers,steps, operations, elements, parts or combinations thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms, including technical terms andscientific terms, used herein have the same meaning as how they aregenerally understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which theinvention pertains. Any term that is defined in a general dictionaryshall be construed to have the same meaning in the context of therelevant art, and, unless otherwise defined explicitly, shall not beinterpreted to have an idealistic or excessively formalistic meaning.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings. Identical or correspondingelements will be given the same reference numerals, regardless of thefigure number, and any redundant description of the identical orcorresponding elements will not be repeated.

FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of a geographic information providingsystem in a personal webpage in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a personal webpage server 104 in the geographicinformation providing system in the personal webpage in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention can be connected to a mobilecommunication system 100 through a gateway 102. Also, the geographicinformation providing system can further include a map database 106.

The present invention is related to a method and a system that storecoordinate information related to an area where a user is located andshare the stored coordinate information with another user.

In the case of visiting a particular place for traveling or otherpurposes, there has been no means in the past that put the exactlocation of the place on record. Accordingly, the present inventionsuggests a method and a system that can store information related to theplace visited by the user in the personal webpage and allow the storedinformation to be accessed through the personal webpage.

In FIG. 1, the mobile communication system 100 functions to receive GPSinformation of the place, where the user is located, from the user'smobile communication terminal 108. The user's mobile communicationterminal 108 is equipped with a module for GPS service. If the userrequests the transmission of the current location information, theuser's mobile communication terminal 108 transmits GPS coordinateinformation of a current location to the mobile communication system 100through a communication with a GPS satellite. The mobile communicationterminal 108 is pre-equipped with a menu or hot key for transmitting thecurrent location information to the mobile communication system.

Included in the mobile communication terminal 108 can be a portableterminal such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) as well as a mobilephone capable of communicating with the mobile communication system.

A GPS application for extracting and transmitting the GPS coordinateinformation related to the current location can be installed in themobile communication terminal 108. The user can request the transmissionof the GPS coordinate by using the hot key and a menu of the mobilecommunication terminal 108 for transmitting the GPS coordinate, and themobile communication terminal 108 transmits the GPS coordinateinformation of the current location to the mobile communication system100 through a mobile communication network in response to the user'srequest.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, otheradditional information as well as the GPS coordinate information of theuser's current location can be transmitted to the mobile communicationsystem 100. For example, the user can transmit text information, such asthe description related to the pertinent place, in addition to the GPScoordinate information, and the mobile communication system receives theGPS coordinate information with the description information through themobile communication network.

The additional information can consist of multimedia information such asa photo and video in addition to the description information. Forexample, the user can transmit the photo or video of the current placewith the GPS coordinate information, and the mobile communication system100 receives the multimedia information through the mobile communicationnetwork.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, if apredetermined event occurs, the GPS application installed in the mobilecommunication terminal 108 extracts and stores the GPS coordinateinformation related to the current location. For example, the GPSapplication of the mobile communication terminal 108 automaticallystores the GPS coordinate information when the user takes a picture byusing the mobile communication terminal. At this time, the picture datataken by the user and the corresponding GPS coordinate information canbe linked with each other and stored. The user can later transmit thestored GPS coordinate information and the picture data, and the mobilecommunication system 100 receives the GPS coordinate information and thepicture data.

The mobile communication system transmits the received GPS coordinateinformation and additional information to a personal webpage server 104of an Internet network through a gateway 102. Here, the gateway 102converts a protocol packet of the mobile communication network into aprotocol packet of the Internet network.

The personal webpage server 104 stores the GPS coordinate informationand additional information, received from the mobile communicationsystem, in a form of a posting. The personal webpage server 104 caninclude any kind of server, such as a blog server and a personalhomepage server, which can store and share personal information.

For example, in case that the personal webpage server 104 is a blogserver, the webpage server 104 can store the received GPS coordinateinformation and additional information in a section of a bulletin boardthat stores the map information. The section of the bulletin board, inwhich the GPS coordinate information and additional information arestored, is predetermined. When the GPS coordinate information andadditional information are received, the received information is storedin a form of a posting in the pertinent bulletin board.

If a user asks for an access to the posting of the received GPScoordinate information and additional information, the personal webpageserver 104 provides the map information displayed with a locationcorresponding to the pertinent GPS coordinate. The personal webpageserver 104 has a GIS engine capable of providing the map information totransfer a map displayed with the GPS coordinate location, and loads themap information related to the GPS coordinate location to be displayedfrom a map database 106 to provide it to the user. Of course, thepersonal webpage server 104 can provide the map displayed with the GPScoordinate location to the user without the GIS engine, by linking witha server providing the GIS map information. Also, to display the mapdata, the user client is installed with an application for displayingGIS map data. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,the application for displaying the GIS map data can be installed in theuser client in a form of Active X control.

The webpage, which displays the map marked with the GPS coordinatelocation provided by the personal webpage server 104, also displays theadditional information, transmitted by the user together with the GPScoordinate.

Accordingly, the user who transmitted the GPS coordinate information andother users who visit the personal webpage of the user can check the mapinformation marked with the GPS coordinate information and theadditional information if they ask for an access to the map informationand additional information.

The above description explains a case that the personal webpage 104receives the GPS coordinate information and stores the receivedinformation in the form of the corresponding posting, and then, performsall functions providing the map displayed with the stored GPS coordinateinformation and additional information. However, it is well-known tothose of ordinary skill in the art that the functions of the personalwebpage 104 can be divided by and performed by a plurality of servers.

As described above, the map information service system in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention can easily store locationinformation related to the place that the user is visiting. In the priorart, however, the user could only receive location information of ordirections to a desired place only through a typical map informationservice, and has not been able to store a particular location on themap. However, in accordance with the present invention, the user canstore not only location information related to a location where the useris visiting, by simple manipulation of a terminal but also theadditional information. Also, the location information and theadditional information can be shared with other users, by storing thelocation information and the additional information in the form of apersonal webpage posting.

FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of a geographic information providingsystem in a personal webpage in accordance with another embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system in which the GPS coordinate information andadditional information transmitted by the user through a mobilecommunication terminal is transmitted through the wireless Internetinstead of the mobile communication network.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the mobile communication terminal 204 can alsoaccess the Internet directly without passing through the mobilecommunication network to transmit the GPS coordinate information andadditional information. At this time, the mobile communication terminal204 is installed with an application transmitting the GPS coordinateinformation and additional information to the personal webpage server200 according to a user's request. The mobile communication terminal 204can be also equipped with a hot key for promptly dealing with the user'srequest.

The mobile communication terminal 204 can wirelessly transmit the GPScoordinate information and additional information by using an accesspoint in the vicinity. The transmitted GPS coordinate information andadditional information is transmitted to the personal webpage 200through the Internet.

While the method of transmitting the GPS coordinate information andadditional information of FIG. 2 is different from FIG. 1, theoperations of the personal webpage server 200 and the map database 202of FIG. 2 are the same as FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the overall process of providinggeographic information in the personal webpage in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the personal webpage server firstly receives theGPS coordinate information and additional information, transmitted by auser, from the user's mobile communication terminal in a steprepresented by 300. As described above, the GPS coordinate informationand additional information can be passed through the mobilecommunication network and be received. Alternately, the GPS coordinateinformation and additional information can be directly received throughthe wireless Internet. The packet transmitting the GPS coordinateinformation and additional information includes identifying informationof the user as well.

The personal webpage server, which received the GPS coordinateinformation and additional information, stores the GPS coordinateinformation and additional information in a form of the personal webpageposting in a step represented by 302. If the GPS coordinate informationand additional information are received, the personal webpage servergives a posting ID to corresponding information and stores it in theform of a posting. The personal webpage can have various categories ofbulletin boards.

The category of the bulletin board storing the GPS coordinateinformation and additional information is pre-configured. For example,in case that there is separately provided a geographic informationbulletin board, the GPS coordinate information and additionalinformation can be stored in a form of a posting of the geographicinformation bulletin board. Since the pertinent information is stored inthe posting form, a posting title and a posting number of thecorresponding board are given to the information. The posting title canbe extracted from the additional information inputted by the user. Ifthere is no additional information, the time of sending the posting canbe set as the posting title. The posting number is successively numberedby comparing with the other postings stored previously.

As such, the GPS coordinate information and additional informationstored in the form of a posting can be accessed by other users as wellas the user who stored the GPS information. The personal webpage serverdetermines whether other users ask for the access to the stored postingin a step represented by 304.

If the user asks for the access to the posting, the personal webpageserver provides to the user not simply the stored GPS coordinateinformation and additional information but map information capable ofidentifying the GPS coordinate location. For this, the webpage serverloads the map having the GPS coordinate information corresponding to theasked posting from the map database in a step represented by 306.

As described earlier, the personal webpage server can include the GISmodule capable of loading and displaying the map data. Alternatively,the personal webpage server can link with the server providing thegeographic information.

Once the map data is loaded, the map information, marked with a locationcorresponding to the GPS coordinate transmitted by the user, istransmitted to the user in a step represented by 308. The webpage,displayed with the map information, is displayed with the additionalinformation, transmitted by the user together with the GPS coordinateinformation. Through the operations of FIG. 3, the user who transmittedthe GPS coordinate information can easily check an exact location of alocation, which the user has visited, through the map and provide toother users the location information related to the place that the userhas visited. Also, since the description, photo, and video informationrelated to the location that the user has visited can be providedthrough the additional information, a wider variety of information canbe stored and provided.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, theservice can allow the user to see additional information of plural userstogether. For example, in case that the user selects a posting ofanother user, there can be a menu that allows the user to access notonly a map and additional information capable of identifying the GPScoordinate of a corresponding posting but also the additionalinformation of another user having the same GPS coordinate as theposting or within a predetermined range. For example, if the selectedposting is the GPS coordinate of the Seorak Mountain, the additionalinformation of the selected posting and other posting informationcorresponding to the GPS coordinate of the Seorak Mountain can beprovided. Accordingly, the user can access the additional information ofanother user by selecting one of the provided posting information.

Also, it is possible to access the additional information, uploaded byvarious users, through the search using the GPS coordinate information.For example, in case that the user inputs a particular GPS coordinateinto a searching window, a list of the posting corresponding to the GPScoordinate within a predetermined range is provided. Accordingly, theuser can access the additional information of various users by selectingat least one of provided postings.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of the personalwebpage server in accordance with the embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the personal webpage server in accordance with theembodiment of the present invention can include a GPS informationstoring unit 400, a GPS coordinate converting unit 402, a GIS maploading unit 404, a temporary layer generating controlling unit 406, adirections calculating unit 408 and a posting managing unit 410.

The GPS information storing unit 400 receives and stores GPS coordinateinformation related to the user's current location and correspondingadditional information, transmitted from the user mobile communicationterminal. The GPS information storing unit 400 recognizes the packettransmitting the GPS coordinate information through the identifier ofthe transmitted packet and stores the transmitted information in a formof the posting. As described above, to store the transmitted informationin the form of the posting, the GPS information storing unit 400 gives aposting ID and stores the received information in a form of apredetermined board category posting.

If the user asks for the access to a posting, the GPS coordinateconverting unit 402 converts the GPS coordinate information, stored in aform of the posting, into the coordinate information of a GIS map. Tomark a location corresponding to the GPS coordinate on the GIS map, theprocess of converting the GPS coordinate into the GIS coordinate isperformed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,the GPS coordinate can be converted into the GIS coordinate by use of amapping table. In accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention, the converting process can be performed through apredetermined converting algorithm by using the altitude and longitudeinformation. Since the coordinate conversion is a known technology, thepertinent detailed description will be omitted.

The GIS map loading unit 404 loads the map of the vicinity based on theGIS coordinate converted by the GPS coordinate converting unit 402. Thescale and scope of map can be varied depending on the user's setting.Different scales and scopes of the maps can be loaded depending on theuser's request. The loaded GIS map data is transmitted to the userclient.

The temporary layer generating controlling unit 406 controls a temporarylayer, for marking a location corresponding to the GPS coordinatetransmitted by the user on the map loaded by the GIS map loading unit404, to be generated on a map displayed on the user client. Variouspolygonal objects for representing a building, a road and so on arestored in the map data stored in the map database. However, it is notpossible for the map data to store every location transmitted by theuser and its corresponding polygonal object.

Accordingly, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,a polygonal object to mark a location corresponding to the GPScoordinate transmitted by the user on the map is dynamically generated.Control information for marking the polygonal object dynamicallygenerated through the temporary layer is transmitted to the user client.The control information is provided by the temporary layer generatingcontrolling unit 406. The polygonal object can be dynamically generatedin the personal webpage server and be provided to the user client.Alternatively, the polygonal object can be dynamically generated by ascript or a pre-installed application of the webpage. The generatedpolygonal object is marked in a form of the temporary layer on the mapdisplayed corresponding to the control information of the temporarylayer generating controlling unit 406.

The directions calculating unit 408 calculates and provides thedirections information provided by a typical GIS map service. Describedin the above embodiment is the case of a corresponding GPS coordinatelocation being displayed through a map if a user transmits an item ofGPS coordinate information and stores it in a form of a posting, andthen, selects a posting. However, the user can select a plurality ofpostings and request a plurality of pertinent GPS coordinates to bemarked on one map. If the user selects a plurality of postings andlocations corresponding to a plurality of pertinent GPS coordinates aremarked on the map, the directions calculating unit 408 calculates andprovides the directions between each marked location. Since thecalculation of the directions is related to a typical technologyperformed with the GIS engine, the pertinent detailed description willbe omitted. The detailed method of providing a plurality of postingsselected by the user will be described below with reference to thepertinent drawing.

The posting managing unit 410 receives and processes posting managinginformation of a user. The posting managing unit 410 receives andprocesses user request information, such as the deletion, renewal andgeneration of postings.

As described above, a plurality of elements of the personal webpageserver, illustrated in FIG. 4, can be equipped in one personal webpageserver. Alternatively, the elements can be separately equipped in aplurality of servers. In the case of being separately equipped in theplurality of servers, a map information service of the present inventioncan be provided through a communication between the plurality ofservers.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing GPScoordinate information and additional information to the personalwebpage server in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 5, a user requests the transmission of GPS coordinateinformation corresponding to a current location through a mobilecommunication terminal in a step represented by 500. If the userrequests the transmission of GPS coordinate information corresponding toa current location, an application installed in the mobile communicationterminal allows the user to input or select additional information, tobe transmitted together with the GPS coordinate, in a step representedby 502. The user can input a description to be provided as theadditional information or select a photo or video as the additionalinformation.

If the input/selection of the additional information by the user iscompleted, a GPS module of the mobile communication terminal calculatesGPS coordinate information corresponding to a user's current locationthrough a communication with a GPS satellite. Although FIG. 5illustrates that the steps represented by 502 and 504 are successivelyperformed, it shall be evident to those of ordinary skill in the artthat the steps represented by 502 and 504 can be independently performedor can be performed in an inverse order.

Also, as described above, GPS coordinate information, automaticallystored when a predetermined event occurs, in addition to the GPScoordinate information can be transmitted from the user's mobilecommunication terminal. At this time, the user selects the previouslystored GPS coordinate information and additional information andrequests the transmission to the personal webpage server.

The additional information and the GPS coordinate information, inputtedor selected by the user, are transmitted to the personal webpage serverthrough a network such as the mobile communication network or thewireless Internet network, in a step represented by 506. A packetincluding the additional information and the GPS coordinate informationfurther includes information capable of identifying the user. A user'smobile phone number can be used as user identifying information. Thepacket including the user ID, capable of being identified in thepersonal webpage server, can be used as the user identifyinginformation.

By using the user identifying information included in the packet, thepersonal webpage server determines who transmits the correspondingpacket. Also, the personal webpage server allots a posting ID to storethe GPS coordinate information and additional information in a form ofthe posting in a step represented by 508.

The personal webpage server stores the received GPS coordinateinformation and additional information in a predetermined posting boardcategory of the user, determined by the user identifying information, ina form of a posting in a step represented by 510.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing mapinformation corresponding to GPS coordinate information stored in a formof a personal webpage posting in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, in case that a user selects a posting stored withGPS coordinate information and asks for the access to the posting in astep represented by 600, the personal webpage server converts a GPScoordinate corresponding to the selected posting into a GIS coordinatein a step represented by 602. As described above, the coordinateconverting process can be performed by a mapping table or apredetermined algorithm.

If the process of converting into the GIS coordinate is completed, mapdata in the vicinity of the converted GIS coordinate is loaded from amap database in a step represented by 604.

After the map data is loaded, a polygonal object for marking thetransmitted GPS coordinate location on a map is generated in a steprepresented by 606. The polygonal object for marking the GPS coordinatelocation can be pre-stored or can be dynamically generated.

A temporary layer is generated to mark the generated polygonal object onthe loaded map. The temporary layer for marking the generated polygonalobject covers a loaded map layer in a step represented by 608. Thepolygonal object is marked on an area corresponding to the transmittedGPS coordinate location by allowing the temporary layer to be overlappedwith the loaded map layer. Accordingly, the user can check the locationcorresponding to the transmitted GPS coordinate location.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the process of providing mapinformation corresponding to a plurality of postings storing GPScoordinate information when selecting the plurality of postings inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

A user can transmit GPS coordinates of a plurality of places that theuser has visited during his or her trip. Also, it is possible to requestto see the coordinate information of the plurality of places on one map.For example, in case that the user makes a trip to Kangwon-do andsuccessively visits Chuncheon, Wonju and the Seorak Mountain, the usertransmits the corresponding GPS coordinate information at each visitedlocation. FIG. 7 is the flow chart illustrating the case of requestingthe coordinate information related to the Seorak Mountain to bedisplayed on one map.

Referring to FIG. 7, the user selects a plurality of postings amongpostings stored with the GPS coordinate information and asks for theaccess to the plurality of postings in a step represented by 700.

The personal webpage server, which receives the access requestinginformation of the plurality of postings, converts the plurality of GPScoordinates into their respective GIS coordinates in a step representedby 702. After the converting process is performed, map data capable ofincluding a plurality of GIS coordinates are loaded from a map databasein a step represented by 704. For example, in the case of selecting theposting stored with the GPS coordinates of Chuncheon, Wonju and theSeorak Mountain, the map data of the scope capable of including allpertinent areas is loaded from the map data. The scale and scope of theloaded map is dynamically set considering the distance between theplurality of GPS coordinates, unlike the case that the map datacorresponding to one GPS coordinate.

After the map is loaded, as illustrated in FIG. 6, polygonal objects tomark the plurality of GPS coordinate areas are generated in a steprepresented by 706. The operation of displaying the polygonal objectsthrough the temporary layer is performed in a step represented by 708.

If the user selects a plurality of postings, directions informationrelated to the corresponding plural areas can be provided, unlike thecase of selecting one posting. The order of providing the directionsinformation to the plural areas must be determined when providing thedirections information. For example, the directions information can beprovided in the order of Chuncheon, Wonju and the Seorak Mountain or inthe order of Wonju, the Seorak Mountain and Chuncheon

The order information of the plural areas for providing the directionsinformation can be set by various methods. For example, the order can beset according to the access order of the time when the user accesses theGPS coordinate information or the selection order of the posting,selected by the user who accesses the posting. Alternatively, the ordercan be set according to the posting number. Of course, various othermethods for setting the order can be used.

If the user requests the directions information of the plural areas, theorder information for calculating the directions of the plural areas isdetermined in a step represented by 712. If the order information isdetermined, the directions information of the plural areas is providedaccording to the determined order information in a step represented by714.

The drawings and detailed description are only examples of the presentinvention, serve only for describing the present invention and by nomeans limit or restrict the spirit and scope of the present invention.Thus, any person of ordinary skill in the art shall understand that alarge number of permutations and other equivalent embodiments arepossible. The true scope of the present invention must be defined onlyby the spirit of the appended claims.

As described above, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention, location information related to a place visited by a user canbe easily stored on a map by using a mobile communication terminal, andthe location information can be shared with other users as well as theuser who stores the location information by linking with the mobilecommunication terminal and storing in real-time the location informationrelated to the place that the user is visiting in a form of a personalwebpage posting.

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, in additionto the location information related to the place visited by the user,additional information such as a picture, movie and description relatedto the pertinent location can be easily stored as well, and the storedlocation information and additional information can be accessedtogether.

1. A computer implemented system for providing geographic information ona webpage, the system comprising: at least one processor; and one ormore units executable by the at least one processor, the one or moreunits comprising: a GPS information storing unit configured to receiveGlobal Positioning System (GPS) coordinate information related to alocation of a user terminal and information related to the locationcomprising one of text information, image information, or videoinformation transmitted from the user terminal and to store the receivedGPS coordinate information on a storage device and the informationrelated to the location using a user identification; a map data loadingunit configured to load map data of the location comprising adjacent mapdata of the location by converting the GPS coordinate information tocoordinate information of the map data in response to receipt of arequest to access the stored GPS coordinate information and theinformation related to the location; and a temporary layer generatingcontrolling unit configured to generate a temporary layer to display thelocation corresponding to the GPS coordinate information associated withthe information related to the location.
 2. A method using a processorfor providing geographic information on a webpage, the methodcomprising: receiving Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinateinformation related to a location of a user terminal and informationrelated to the location comprising one of text information, imageinformation, or video information transmitted from the user terminal andstoring the GPS coordinate information and the information related tothe location using a user identification; loading map data of thelocation comprising adjacent map data of the location by converting, bythe processor, the GPS coordinate information to coordinate informationof the map data in response to receipt of a request to access the storedGPS coordinate information and the information related to the location;displaying the location corresponding to the GPS coordinate on theloaded map; and providing the information related to the location inassociation with a web page.
 3. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising executable computer programs, whichwhen executed by one or more processors, performs the following method:receiving Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate information relatedto a location of a user terminal and information related to the locationcomprising one of text information, image information, or videoinformation transmitted from the user terminal and storing the GPScoordinate information and the information related to the location usinga user identification; loading map data of the location comprisingadjacent map data of the location by converting the GPS coordinateinformation to coordinate information of the map data in response toreceipt of a request to access the stored GPS coordinate information andthe information related to the location; displaying the locationcorresponding to the GPS coordinate on the loaded map; and providing theinformation related to the location in association with a web page. 4.An apparatus comprising: a storage device; and a processor configured toreceive Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate information relatedto a location of a user terminal and information related to the locationcomprising one of text information, image information, or videoinformation transmitted from the user terminal, wherein the received GPScoordinate information and the information related to the location arestored in the storage device using a user identification, and theprocessor is configured to load map data of the location comprisingadjacent map data of the location by converting the GPS coordinateinformation to coordinate information of the map data in response toreceipt of a request to access the stored GPS coordinate information andthe information related to the location, wherein a temporary layer isgenerated to display the location corresponding to the GPS coordinateinformation associated with the information related to the location.